my Dina Wakley class layout

I'm sure I won't have to work too hard to remind you of the freakin' amazing time that I had at Dina Wakley's Encaustic Tag Book Class.  F'realz, still one of the best times ever.  Yeah, I know- it was only a month and two days ago- but really- it was a damned good time.

How good was it?

It was so good that I'm experimenting with encaustic-esque goodness on my own (more on that, soon) and:  a few of her techniques and brief lesson on composition have stayed with me-  they've 'persevered' as you might say...

Before we get too far, I'm gonna level with you:  I've been drinking.  It was my birthday last Thursday. I'm just getting around to celebrating.  Get off my back.

Around 3:37pm, I woke up from a nap and thought, "Hell, I'm gonna make a page and fix myself a cocktail before my birthday party starts."

Now, let's back up a few days.

Wednesday:  I was excited to be off of work for a few days.  Somehow, I ended up deciding that the perfect way to spend a "night of unlimited possibilities" (that's what I call a night with no work the next day) was to experiment with watercolors.

I've had some watercolors for quite some time- my Mom gave me a very classy "art box" for Christmas one year.  It's filled with pastels, colored pencils, drawing pencils, tools... and:  watercolors.

Now, previously, the only time I'd tried to paint with watercolors was a few weeks ago, at work.  I was trying to complete my "Make Someone Smile" doodle-  I created a stunning (haha) beach scene, and thought I'd be really cool and use watercolors, from the "art box," to color the ocean.  It didn't work out  so well.  But, I was using my finger and spit- so that was kind of expected.

With my inspiration propelled by my copy of The Journal Junkies Workshop and my failed finger-and-spit watercolor technique, I decided to give it another go-  and while I watercolored away, (more 'bout this later, too) I ended up splattering a brand new sheet of 12X12 kraft cardstock.  I thought I pushed it far enough away- but you know how that goes...

Today, as I tried (in vain) to clean up in preparation for my "birthday party night," I noticed how much I liked the splatters on the corner of cardstock.  It reminded me, somewhat, of the Encaust Tag Book Class.  So:  I pulled three of the pictures I had printed out (thanks, Walgreens and Instagram!) and got to work.

I thought I'd take some pictures of my process.  But then the "process" stretched out hours and hours, as I placed things....replaced things...moved strips...re-moved things...arranged things... well, you get the idea.  So, I've whittled the entire ordeal down to just a few pictures...

At first, I wanted to used the entire piece of kraft as the background.  While digging through my ever-breeding box of papers, a couple of pages from BasicGrey's WANDER collection just jumped out and bit me on the ass.  After an hour or so of moving things around and around, I ended up with the above square glued to the classy distress-y blue B-side of one of BasicGrey's lil' works of art.  The square up there is made from two pieces of the same piece of paper- strips cut, flipped around and glued together.

Dat right there is a piece of the inspiring cardstock.  Hope it isn't too underwhelming.

Above, I added another strip of paper pieced together with part of its own "B-side."
I cut strips from another piece of paper from BasicGrey's WANDER collection and pieced them together, at an angle, with strips of kraft and the border piece that resulted from the background page when I cut the "tag" off.  This is what it looked like from behind:

Kinda cool, seeing things from behind, right?  I thought so...

After another excruciating amount of moving, changing and rearranging, I ended up thinking I needed two little strips of kraft- so I added them.  As you can see up there.

All I had left to do was to glue "the strip" down and figure out how I wanted my pictures!  Luckily, my friend, (and one of my roommates) Pete, happened by to say:  "WHAT YOU BEEN DOIN' FOR FIVE HOURS?!  COME OUT TO THE PATIO AND DRINK WITH US!  AND HEY- Why don't you put that picture there, cuz that's the main picture, right?  And then put that one like this- and there you go..."

And he was right-  I loved the way that looked.  Normally, I would strongly advise AGAINST taking scrapbooking advice from someone who spends most of their time playing "Modern Warfare 3" and shouting over an earpiece at people to "GET THE @#$% OUTTA THE BUNKER!"  But, I gotta say, you gotta keep your mind and ears open to suggestions.

Here's what I ended up with:

The pic to the left is my tag book in progress.  The center pic is, of course, me with the genius goddess Ms. Dina.  The last pic, on the right, is a shot of my proudly ink and paint stained hands.

There was heaps more washi, before I snapped the picture.  I remembered Coco Chanel's advice about removing accessories before you leave the house (or in this case, finish the layout) and removed an accessory.  It made all the difference in the world.

A closer close-up of my beloved center picture.

Look at those layers!

Aaaand my parting shot.  It's too late for me to be awake.  I have a crazy week ahead of me.  Beginning tomorrow with a long long day of rehearsal for a new show.  I don't know if I'll survive the next three months.  We'll see.

-kory